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Great Lives from History: Latinos

Rosie Casals

by P. Graham Hatcher

American tennis player and women’s rights activist

Best known for her aggressive style of play and diminutive size, Casals became a leader in advancing the status of female athletes through her role in the formation of the Women’s Tennis Association; although she did not personally benefit from it, her efforts contributed to the equalization of prize money for women and men in 2006 in professional tennis.

Areas of achievement: Sports; women’s rights

Early Life

Rosemary Casals (kah-SAHLS) was born in San Francisco, California, to parents who had come to the United States from El Salvador. She was raised by her great uncle and aunt from an early age. It was through Manuel Casals, a former soccer player, that she was introduced to tennis on the public courts of Golden Gate State Park as a nine-year-old. Casals and her older sister, Victoria, quickly took to the game under Manuel’s tutelage. However, Casals quickly surpassed her sister and spent hours improving her game through relentless practice and competitive matches against the men at the park. She was driven to become the best player in the world.

Rosie Casals.

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Casals was barely 5 feet tall and, unlike most other junior tennis players, did not come from a wealthy family. In response to these challenges, she developed an aggressive style of play and fiery temperament. She always sought out the best competition, even if meant playing older girls. In time, she channeled her energy into a fast, powerful, all-court game; the only weakness was her backhand, but she compensated by developing the ability to place shots.

An excellent student and an avid reader, Casals had set her academic sights on medicine. However, by age eighteen, she had become one of the best women’s tennis players in the country and was mentored by the top American woman, Billie Jean Moffitt (King).

Life’s Work

Casals’s rise to the top of women’s tennis coincided with the beginning of the Open era in professional tennis and the women’s movement in society. Never fond of the tennis establishment, Casals was prominent in establishing the sport’s professional presence and prestige. She was one of the first nine women to sign on with the Virginia Slims Tennis Tour (forerunner of the Women’s Tennis Association) in 1970, the last year that cigarette advertising was allowed on television. Casals won the tour’s inaugural tournament in Houston that year.

In addition to King, the best-known player and spokeswoman for the emerging movement, Casals became a noted figure who assisted her former mentor in assuring equality for women tennis players in opportunity and prize money. That struggle was not without other heroines, but King and Casals dominated on the tennis court as doubles partners as well, winning five Wimbledons and two U.S. National and Open doubles championships from 1967 to 1974. They also were seven-time runners-up in Grand Slam doubles events. Casals achieved a world number-three ranking in 1970 and spent twelve years in the top ten.

Ever-present on the court until a knee injury in 1978 limited her play, Casals’s Grand Slam career included being a finalist in singles twice, in doubles twenty-one times, and in mixed doubles six times. She did return to win the U.S. Open doubles in 1982 and finish as runner-up at Wimbledon the next year.

Although Casals never achieved the fame as a singles player that she did in doubles, she left the game with titles in parts of three decades and a legacy of activism for women’s causes. She won a title in each of the seven tournaments she entered. With a trademark headband and jet-black hair, Casals even challenged the customary “tennis whites” at the staid Wimbledon club, wearing colorful outfits that reflected her personality. At the height of her playing career, she was a co-commentator during the epic “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match between King and Bobby Riggs in 1973. Casals was inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1996 and headed Sportswoman, Incorporated, a sports and charity event-planning company for corporations.

Significance

Casals was the second most notable pioneer of women’s professional tennis, championing that cause with King during and after her playing career. Skilled and expressive, she captivated the tennis world as a 5-foot, 2-inch dynamo whose mastery of powerful shots and quick pace defined a style of play that influenced the women’s game. Her legacy as a proponent of equal opportunity and prize money for women eventually allowed the women’s game to parallel the men’s in those respects.

Further Reading

1 

Altman, Linda J. Rosemary Casals: The Rebel Rosebud. St. Paul, Mo.: EMC, 1975. Discusses Casals’s career and activism as a leader in challenging the tennis establishment and promoting equality in sports.

2 

Amdur, Neil. “New Riches for Rosie Casals.” The New York Times, December 17, 1982, p. A31. Casals reflects on the changes in the sport as well as her role of player, coach, social critic, and promoter.

3 

Chapin, Kim. “A Bright Future for Little Miss Bombshell.” Sports Illustrated 25, no. 17 (October 24, 1966): 68-70. Written about Casals at age eighteen, this profile chronicles her meteoric rise to capture the attention of the tennis world with her aggressive style of play.

4 

Lichtenstein, Grace. A Long Way, Baby: Behind the Scenes in women’s Pro Tennis. New York: William Morrow, 1974. Gives additional insight into Casals’s devotion to being the best and her interaction with other pioneers of women’s professional tennis.

5 

Phillips, Dennis J. Women Tennis Stars: Biographies and Records of Champions, 1800s to Today. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2009. Reference work describing Casals’s career and importance to the sport.

6 

Thacher, Alida M. Raising a Racket: Rosie Casals. Milwaukee, Wis.: Raintree Editions, 1976. Written for a juvenile audience, this is a short biography of Casals’s life and active playing career.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Hatcher, P. Graham. "Rosie Casals." Great Lives from History: Latinos, edited by Carmen Tafolla & Martha P. Cotera, Salem Press, 2012. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=GLL_10013240013501001.
APA 7th
Hatcher, P. G. (2012). Rosie Casals. In C. Tafolla & M. P. Cotera (Eds.), Great Lives from History: Latinos. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Hatcher, P. Graham. "Rosie Casals." Edited by Carmen Tafolla & Martha P. Cotera. Great Lives from History: Latinos. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2012. Accessed October 22, 2025. online.salempress.com.